The present invention generally relates to programmable circuit devices. More particularly, the present invention relates to an architecture that permits the instantaneous realization of certain classes of systems in integrated circuit or discrete component form.
The task of making a commercial integrated circuit is expensive both in terms of time and money. Typically, a desired circuit is designed in a laboratory and modeled. Specifications for the design are then drawn and an integrated circuit design is made from the desired specifications. An integrated circuit is then fabricated according to known techniques. The cost from design to first fabrication is often in the tens of thousands of dollars, and time frame is usually several months. However, after fabrication, the chip must first be tested for errors in specification or design. Such errors, which are rather common, force the redesign of the chip and require another fabrication procedure. Before the entire process is finished, the cost to the designer will be in the many tens of thousands of dollars, if not hundreds of thousands, and the time from start to finish could very well be over a year.
In light of the above, it is clear that the task of creating an integrated circuit is fraught with many shortcomings. Besides the actual costs of designing a functioning chip, the large delays inherent in the process can impart a financial burden in lost revenues. Moreover, the rigid nature of the design process does not allow for interactive product development. Thus, desirable changes are not easily worked into the design, and because of time and dollar constraints may never be incorporated into the final product. Likewise, where an exact determination of the performance of a component is not obtainable in advance, current integrated circuit design techniques would require a user to breadboard his system and then subsequently size and cost reduce it with integrated circuits. Such a method is slow and expensive and is open to a multitude of problems in translating breadboards into chips.
Even after a chip has been perfected, it has to be produced in volume for production. The "productization" of a chip is the process of understanding the failure mechanisms that can limit yield and correcting for them. Increasing the yield reduces the cost of the chip and increases the security of supply. However, increasingly, application specific integrated circuits have been desired resulting in lower volumes of a greater number of different chips. The "productization" of a lower volume chip introduces another significant cost to the overall process. Moreover, with lower volumes, the designer will often face significant inventory problems, as lead times are usually on the order of a few months, but sales from month to month may be quite uneven.
Despite the many shortcomings of the standard manner of producing integrated circuits (ICs), the use of such ICs is virtually mandatory in the production of all electronic products as they could not be constructed with reasonable size and sold at a marketable price without them. On the other hand, the lead time necessary to produce an IC and the cost involved establish a significant entry barrier.